“There are stories, experiences, emotions beyond every moment, but time is always hiding them. We can’t see through the eyes what lies behind. We can only imagine some colored fragments of what there is inside a person, as if each color was an emotion or an action. I paint because I try to have a clearer vision of things and relations, discovering hidden stories and evoking those inner emotions through brushstrokes of color”. Nicolò Canova, about is art illustration work.

Says Nicolà Canova – painter, illustrator and visual artist based in Turin, Italy, that made his academic path in illustration at the International Academy of Comics and developed his own particular artistic style.

“At school, teachers always told me that an artist should have a precise, recognizable style for all their work,” he says. “And I spent a lot of time looking for [mine] until I realized that being capable to fit into many styles wasn’t a weakness but a strength.”

At first glance, the pure, pastel tones of Italian artist Nicolò Canova‘s work might be what draw viewers’ attentions; but the motion, liquidity and emotions they depict are what encourage viewers to keep looking. It is an almost immediate expolsion of feelings ans sensations.

The colors may be a constant but the materiality of his work ranges from acrylics – used on their own, as well as painted over vintage photos for his Masquerade series – colored paper collages, oil paints, props – such as flora and even concrete. “I love experimenting,” he shares. “Using [various] and unusual mediums gives a higher aesthetic. As if the artwork can’t be confined inside the canvas.”

The most profound side of Canova’s work is the biographic character of his art illustrations. “I discovered that mixing shades with desaturated colors was inspiring to me,” Nicolò says. “It provided a better reflection of myself.” Maybe this is the reason he gets to touch other people, we can feel exactly human feelings in each illustration. His work is very instinctive and this has a way of “involving” viewers with the final pieces of art. Since they are created based on the artists’ instincts, it stands to reason that viewers are “free to give [the art] meanings which maybe I hadn’t even thought of; free to feel emotions that I didn’t feel while I was painting,” as Nicolò says.